Environmental Engineering Reference
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efforts across these five categories to ensure that the whole of the movement is
greater than the sum of its parts.
(i)
Broad-based education
: One of the earliest attempts to educate consumers
about sustainable seafood choices was a seafood card created by the National
Audubon Society in 1998 that listed which seafood to avoid and which was
safe to enjoy on environmental grounds (Plate 7.3). That card, published
in Audubon's eponymous magazine, was followed by the development of a
regional guide of seafood recommendations by the Monterey Bay Aquarium
the following year (see Chapter 17). Such 'fish cards' have proven a popular
and effective means of communicating with consumers on this issue and have
increasingly highlighted both environmental and public health data about each
species.
The number of organisations providing seafood recommendations to con-
sumers has increased from 2 in 1999 to over 30 in 2007, operating in 16
countries representing every inhabited continent. Although the proliferation
of these seafood guides in only about 8 years has increased the distribution of
environmentally responsible seafood information, it also poses a challenge
of ensuring consistent recommendations for the consuming public. The Al-
liance has been instrumental in facilitating the development of a common list
of seafood recommendations both in the US and in the Europe that could
be utilised by all members. In 2004, the Alliance's efforts resulted in the
Monterey Bay Aquarium, Blue Ocean Institute, and Environmental Defense
jointly producing 'The Fish List' - the first unified, national guide. The Al-
liance has also been facilitating a set of European-based conservation groups
as they explore a common approach to seafood recommendations.
(ii)
Business-to-business communications
: Business-to-business efforts enable
retailers, wholesalers, distributors, restaurants and others to work together,
and in tandem with environmental organisations, to ensure the sustainability
of the products they pass through the supply chain. A large part of that ef-
fort involves breaking down barriers and building up trust among the various
partners that must work together to expand the sustainability marketplace.
While several environmental NGOs are establishing partnerships with major
seafood buyers, the Alliance has worked to raise the level of trust among key
players by hosting a series of business-to-business dialogues. These sessions
provide a constructive forum where new ideas can be explored, challenges
and obstacles discussed, and collaborations identified. Relationships built out
of such dialogues have already resulted in new business-conservation part-
nerships on both sides of the Atlantic.
In response to requests by key industry leaders and others seeking to
move their companies towards greater sustainability, conservation organi-
sations have developed a suite of actionable tools for seafood businesses. For
example, Seafood Choices Alliance recently published
Sourcing Seafood,
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